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Kirk died doing what made him a potent political force — rallying the political right on a college campus, this time Utah Valley University. 

He personified the pugnacious, populist conservatism that took over the Republican Party in the age of Trump.

At the center of the right-of-center universe

He launched his organization, Turning Point USA, in 2012, targeting younger people and venturing onto liberal-leaning college campuses where many GOP activists were nervous to tread. The group is known for its flamboyant events that often feature strobe lighting and pyrotechnics. It claims more than 250,000 student members.

Turning Point's political wing helped run get-out-the-vote efforts for Trump's 2024 campaign, trying to energize disaffected conservatives who rarely vote. Trump won ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥, Turning Point's home state, by five percentage points after narrowly losing it in 2020. 

Trump on Wednesday praised Kirk, who started as an unofficial adviser during Trump's initial 2016 campaign and more recently became a confidant. "He was a very, very good friend of mine and he was a tremendous person," Trump told the New York Post.

Kirk showed off an apocalyptic style in his popular podcast, radio show and on the campaign trail. During an appearance with Trump in Georgia last fall, he said Democrats "stand for everything God hates." Kirk called the choice between Trump and then-Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris "a spiritual battle."

"This is a Christian state. I'd like to see it stay that way," Kirk told the 10,000 or so Georgians, who at one point joined Kirk in a deafening chant of "Christ is King!"

Influencing a new generation of conservatives

Kirk also remained a regular presence on college campuses. Last year, for the social media program "Surrounded," he faced off against 20 liberal college students to defend his viewpoints, including that abortion is murder and should be illegal.

Admirers stressed that, for all of Kirk's confrontational rhetoric, he relished debate and the free exchange of ideas. "His entire project was built on reaching across the divide and using speech, not violence, to address and resolve the issues!" William Wolfe, executive director of the Center for Baptist Leadership, posted on social media.

His style has been hugely influential for a new generation of conservatives.

Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida spoke on the Capitol steps after the shooting Wednesday, reflecting on Kirk's influence on her political journey.

"I was supposed to go to medical school. Charlie Kirk called me the day before I was supposed to leave, and recruited me to go be the national Hispanic outreach director for the organization," Luna said. "I was with him at many of them, debating those kids, and that conversation needs to happen. You can't squelch that."

Kirk was married to podcaster Erika Frantzve. They have two young children.

Zeal for challenging liberals

Turning Point was founded in suburban Chicago in 2012 by then 18-year-old Kirk and William Montgomery, a tea party activist, to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government.

Kirk's evangelical Christian beliefs were intertwined with his political perspective, and he argued that there was no true separation of church and state. He also referenced the Seven Mountain Mandate, which specifies seven areas where Christians are to lead: politics, religion, media, business, family, education and the arts, and entertainment.

Kirk argued for a new conservatism that advocated for freedom of speech, challenging Big Tech and the media, and centering working-class Americans beyond the nation's capital.

Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016.

Kirk announced he was organizing buses to travel to Washington to back Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, and later invoked the Fifth Amendment rather than answering questions from the Jan. 6 subcommittee. Also in 2021, as he stepped up criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement on college campuses, Kirk called George Floyd, the Black man whose 2020 murder at the hands of Minneapolis police sparked protests that roiled Trump's last full year in office, a "scumbag."

As money poured in, Kirk bought a $4.75 million Spanish-style estate on a gated ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ country club. Turning Point steered millions of dollars to contractors owned by Kirk and his associates, and some Republicans were skeptical when it announced it would spearhead an attempt to turn out infrequent voters during Trump's 2024 campaign.

But as younger voters shifted right and Trump ran up a five-point margin of victory in ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥, Kirk and his allies claimed vindication of his view of a culture-war-oriented conservatism.